Katie Nelson

A couple weeks ago, I was at the Salvation Army in downtown L.A. A little girl, probably about six or seven, came up to my friend Bayli and clung to her side the way a child would a beloved parent. Bayli looked a little taken aback and said, “Oh hi there. What’s your name?”

“Audrey,” said the girl softly.

“Hi Audrey…” Bayli replied.

I caught eyes with Bayli while Audrey hugged her and whispered, “Have you met her before?”

“No,” Bayli mouthed, “I’ve never been here before.”

The others at the Salvation Army said that everyday Audrey picked a favorite person- clinging to whoever would shower her with attention. Today, her chosen favorite was Bayli.

As we began playing with Audrey, we noticed that her teeth were stained with black spots – they were rotting.

I asked Jesus, “Why?”

Why did I have the opportunity to go to the dentist growing up? Why didn’t I grow up in downtown L.A.? Why do I get to go on mission trips and not be the mission?

As I was reading Romans I realized, that’s the wrong question. I’m missing it…

Audrey and I are one in the same.

God has rescued both of us.

The dirt was there, rotting my heart raw and bare.

If I think that my circumstances mean I’m better off, that somehow God loves me more or Audrey less- my heart is hard.

Jesus loves the broken and poor and associates with the lowly.

I want to be “them.”
I am them.

Sometimes, my things – cushy life things like showers and clean teeth hide my own need, but I want to be

Audrey-

clinging to the knees of My Father, desperate for love, aware of my brokenness and accepting His gift of grace.

“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.” -Romans 5:8 AMP